Ok... We've swapped Baku's food 2-3 times until we finally found one that agreed with him, allergy wise.

When we got Baku at 8 weeks old, he was eating this cheap puppy chow from wherever. The family who's dog had a litter didn't have the $$ to invest in higher quality food.

Starting that night, we began mixing Natures Recipe food in with what he ate. He enjoyed it, but eventually he stopped eating. We weren't sure why, so we swapped again to the "large breed" Natures Recipe puppy food. He devoured that stuff.

That's when the allergy came in. He started to get white spots on his coat and his hair came out constantly. He also developed what appeared to be a bunch of pimples on his forehead.

Xarpolis wrote:We give him a total of 4 cups of food per day. 2 for breakfast (7am) and 2 for dinner (6pm). Is this too much? He seems to always be hungry so I'm feeding him the way I would feed myself.

How old is he now? How do you feed yourself? The only reason I ask is because my guys ALWAYS act like they are hungry (and they would eat cardboard if you offered it to them). If I fed them until they were full all the time they would probably look like hippos.

Next question: Every Thursday at work, we have Soft Pretzels. He sits and watches us with sorrowful eyes, so we usually give him half of one. Is this acceptable, or should I stop that as well?

A few treats now and then aren't going to hurt him. I would just shake off as much of the salt as you can on the pretzel before giving him some and make sure he earns that treat by giving you a behavior

Xarpolis wrote:We give him a total of 4 cups of food per day. 2 for breakfast (7am) and 2 for dinner (6pm). Is this too much? He seems to always be hungry so I'm feeding him the way I would feed myself.

How old is he now? How do you feed yourself? The only reason I ask is because my guys ALWAYS act like they are hungry (and they would eat cardboard if you offered it to them). If I fed them until they were full all the time they would probably look like hippos.

Next question: Every Thursday at work, we have Soft Pretzels. He sits and watches us with sorrowful eyes, so we usually give him half of one. Is this acceptable, or should I stop that as well?

A few treats now and then aren't going to hurt him. I would just shake off as much of the salt as you can on the pretzel before giving him some and make sure he earns that treat by giving you a behavior

Well said Matt!

I agree with all of that...esp. the being hungry part. Most of my gang would eat until they exploded. I used to have a basset hound that would always act like she was STARVING. I always wondered how much she'd eat if given the chance...then one day, she found her way into a 20# bag of kibble at my parents' house. She had eaten half of the bag before we found her...she only weighed 38# and had eaten at least 10# of kibble...and had no intention of stopping (we stopped her!). I don't go by "they seem hungry".

I go by how they look (I like to see ribs when they're playing and breathing hard)...and how they feel (I want to feel ribs easily...but not feel hip bones easily). My guys are constantly getting amount changes due to weather and how active or inactive they are. Throughout the year, Score can vary from 1.5 cups once a day, to 2.5 cups once a day (he's also on high fat/protein food). Ripley can go from 3/4 cup to 2 cups. They're all the same way...I vary the amounts depending on how they look and feel, not on how HUNGRY they are.

If they act HUNGRY (starving dogs in my house...I'm so horrible!)...but are dieting, they can have low-cal treats...carrots, popcorn, Charlee Bears, etc. But my guys are usually trying to GAIN weight. They get lots of treats throughout the day, but like Matt said, they always have to earn them.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

maberi wrote:How old is he now? How do you feed yourself? The only reason I ask is because my guys ALWAYS act like they are hungry (and they would eat cardboard if you offered it to them). If I fed them until they were full all the time they would probably look like hippos.

1.) He's just over 5 months old now. His birth date is in my signature.

2.) To be honest, I'm a little on the bigger side. I just eat when I'm hungry, while trying not to over do it, it doesn't always work out for the best.

He also gets 4-6 milk bones a day, and one of the regular sized lite Greenie (dental treat thing) after dinner.

That's his entire food intake, outside of what he might find on the ground when I'm not watching.

My name is Jon and my wife is Manami.Together we have Baku, our gorgeous Pit. He was born 7/20/09.

I generally feed more to a puppy and taper off some as the dog gets older. You also have to consider activity levels/exercise regiments/etc. - my 10 months-old puppy eats a good 4 cups a day right now (recommendation on the bag is 3 - 4 3/4 cups a day for his age/size). He's 70 lbs. right now, and I supplement his kibble w/unseasoned cooked green beans, the occasional egg/yogurt/cottage cheese, etc.As for treats - I feed them as well, but several times a week I try to substitute baby carrots or apples.Mine LOVE most fruits and vegetables, so that makes it easy.

Well, pictures can sometime be deceiving, but he looks a little (not severe at all ) heavy for his age. If anything, while they are growing, I recommend to my clients that I would rather them be on the lighter side that hefty. Admittedly, they have growth spurts and sometimes look too thin, and vice versa.

Every individual is different, so it hard to say what will be the right amount of food for each dog. But, my 70 pounder gets 1.5 cups of his food (Hunden Flocken Solid Gold) twice daily, and he gets hard core, aerobic exercise for 30-60 minutes at least once a day. Yes, he is on the lean side, but depending on what level of activity you and your boy have, and what your ultimate goals are for him, I'd probably scale back his food a teeny bit. This is only my opinion , and like I said, different pictures show different things, so I may be totally off base.

Otherwise, I think everyone else has covered it nicely with respect to the treats and such.

I understand exactly what you're saying. He looked big, but I wasn't sure if it was normal or not.

The "back fat" comment made a lot of sense to both me and my wife, so we've cut his food from 2 cups per sitting to 1.3 cups per sitting. We'll do this for a week or more then drop him down to 1 cup. I need him to exercise more. As it stands, he's a lazy dog that sleeps nearly all day. Outside of when we take him on walks, that is.

Thanks for the advice. He (should) get thinner in no time.

My name is Jon and my wife is Manami.Together we have Baku, our gorgeous Pit. He was born 7/20/09.

Xarpolis wrote:I understand exactly what you're saying. He looked big, but I wasn't sure if it was normal or not.

The "back fat" comment made a lot of sense to both me and my wife, so we've cut his food from 2 cups per sitting to 1.3 cups per sitting. We'll do this for a week or more then drop him down to 1 cup. I need him to exercise more. As it stands, he's a lazy dog that sleeps nearly all day. Outside of when we take him on walks, that is.

Thanks for the advice. He (should) get thinner in no time.

I have a large mastiff mix that is so low energy he only needs about 2/3 cup kibble per day. It's amazing how little food he needs.

~Jeanine

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Wow...50# at 5 mo., he's going to be a pretty big boy. Beautiful dog!I don't have a lot to add. For lurkers who may be reading this thread, I did want to emphasize that so many cups of one food is NOT equal to so many cups of another food. It really depends on the quality of the food you are feeding.Anyway, when Murphy was growing fast and at one point seemed a bit chunky, the vet recommended switching from puppy food to adult food. I'd keep in touch with the vet as to when you should make that switch, regardless of what it says on the bag.